Hannah Blythyn nominated as new Senedd Standards Chair
Emily Price
The junior minister who was sacked by Vaughan Gething after being falsely accused of leaking messages to the media has been elected the Chair of the Senedd’s Standards of Conduct Committee.
Hannah Blythyn was removed from her Welsh Government role of Social Partnership Minister by the former First Minister in May.
Mr Gething claimed she was the source of a screen grab leaked to Nation.Cymru from a Covid-era ministerial group chat.
The former health minister told members of the chat that he was deleting messages because they could be subject to Freedom of Information legislation.
Ms Blythyn denied forwarding the screen grab and Nation.Cymru took the unusual step of confirming she was not the source of the leak.
Speaking at the time of her removal from government, the MS for Delyn said: “Integrity is all in politics and I retain mine.”
Donations
Following her dismissal she spent several weeks away from the Welsh Parliament after being signed off work with anxiety.
Mr Gething was later forced to resign following a short and tumultuous stint in the top job which was marked by rows over donations to his leadership campaign from a convicted polluter.
The series of scandals led to a vote of no confidence in his leadership and the collapse of the co-operation deal between the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru.
Four members of Mr Gething’s Cabinet eventually quit after refusing to serve under him.
He will now return to Labour’s backbench having not been selected to serve in the Cabinet of Wales’s new First Minister, Baroness Eluned Morgan.
On Tuesday (September 17) Ms Blythyn was nominated by Julie Morgan and seconded by Lesley Griffiths as the Standards of Conduct Committee Chair without any objections.
Vikki Howells, who previously chaired the committee, was recently appointed Minister for Further and Higher Education.
The Committee’s role is to consider complaints referred to it by the Commissioner for Standards.
It is also responsible for reviewing the code of conduct for Members of the Senedd, guidance on the code and complaints procedures, and rules for lobbying.
Speaking on her new appointment, Ms Blythyn told Nation.Cymru: “The Standards of Conduct Committee is undertaking a hugely important piece of work and I am grateful to colleagues for giving me the opportunity to lead it.
“Our current standards policies and procedures are due a review and we are determined to get this right for the future. The committee will listen to experts, and the public, as we develop recommendations for change.
“I’m very much looking forward to the challenge that comes with it and to playing my part in ensuring and advancing the integrity of the Senedd – from processes to policies and the people that serve within it.”
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’Hannah Blythyn nominated as new Senedd Standards Chair’ The appointee will be a credit to Senedd, and poetic justice served, in my opinion.
Whether she’ll turn out be ‘a credit to the Senedd’ remains to be seen, but I completely agree that her appointment is ‘poetic justice’.
It’s intriguing that Ms Blythyn was nominated to this role by two of her Labour colleagues and that the appointment seems to have been nodded through by the general consent of Senedd members. Maybe Vaughan Gething’s decision not to seek re-election next time happened because he was aware of the prevailing sentiment among his erstwhile colleagues which this appointment seems to suggest?.
I accept your challenge on the first point, which indeed, remains to be seen. Your understanding of shifting centres of power within the governing group is also valid.
She should start an immediate investigation into the £200,000 donation to Vaughan Gething from a convicted criminal.
For what reason should there be an investigation into a legal and disclosed donation?
An investigation into why and how someone with no morals can do something so immoral and believe he can get away with it, where nearly 90% of the electorate then said he was not fit for his position, which is why he is no longer in the position.
Frightening that supporters of (probably) Plaid Cymru would like the Senedd not to be run by rules and precedent but by mob justice, populist sentiment and grievance.
Llyn, He is my local AM.
I emailed him to voice my disgust at what he did.
The reply back was a criticism of me and the fact that I was out of touch, unbelievable!
So what if he’s your MS. You can’t just drag people in front of committees because you didn’t like his email reply. Again I would ask. What rules did he break that warrants him to have an investigation by the Standards Committee?
She should start with NHS Cymru first…
Is she going to investigate Bjorn Guessing first…
He has broken all the Nolan principles in public life…
Does anyone know how the chat was leaked? If a state actor hacked HB’s phone we should know how that happened and what’s changed to prevent it happening again.